FJ. BAKKER

A COMMEMORATIVE MASS FOR WESSEL GANSFORT

It is known that Wessel Gansfort had strong ties with the city of .1 He was born and bred there, and received his education through the mediation of the Groningen mayoral family Jarges. At the end of his life he returned to the city. After having lived for some time in the Cistercian monastery of Aduard, close to the city, he was admitted to the Olde Convent, a sister convent of the Order of Tertiaries, through the mediation of the of Utrecht, David of Burgundy.2 Some authors believe that the ties of that convent with the Friars Minor in Groningen must have been strong, because it is part of one of the Franciscan orders. The reverse is true. Only seldom is there a direct influence of the . Much more important are the ties with the Brethren of the Common Life in the city itself. The Olde Convent lends them a hand in founding their chapter in the hope that they will supply them with good confessors. The priest who acts as such in the Olde Convent in Wessel's time, Theodericus van Gogh, is also known as the provisor of the Fraterhuis.3 In the Olde Convent, Wessel Gansfort spends his last years studying theology. As Rudolph Agricola, then secretary of the city of Groningen, writes to Adolph Occo in a letter of 11 October 1482, he no longer practices medicine. In another letter, written on 9 November 1484 from to Johannes Reuchlin,

1 For further details on Wessel Gansfort's sojourn in Groningen, see Van Rhijn, Wessel Gansfort. 2 There is a recurrent misconception that the Olde Convent is a Poor Clare convent. Van Rhijn made a mistake here: Wessel Gansfort, 136-137. See also his later work: Studiën over Wessel Gansfort, 144. Van Heel has straightened the matter out: De Tertiarissen van het Utrechtsche kapittel He again emphasizes this in 'Het Olde Convent of het St. Agnesklooster te Groningen'; see also my Bedelorden en begijnen in de stad Groningen tot 1594, esp. 158ff. Unfortunately, the same mistake was made once again in the catalogue of the Wessel Gansfort exhibition organized by the University Library on the occasion of the conference: Wessel Gansfort en het Noordelijk Humanisme, 13. 3 See for the relations between Tertiaries, Franciscans, and Brethren of the Common Life: Bakker, Bedelorden en begijnen, 164ff. 24 FJ. BAKKER

Agricola also reports that he was very close to *Basilius.'4Goswinus van Halen implicitly confirms this. These data on Wessel Gansfort's sojourn in Groningen have been extracted from letters and narrative sources. To date, references in other kinds of sources, such as charters, have not been found. But there are two charters in the Rijksarchief at Groningen which I should like to discuss in this context. Origi­ nally they formed a transfix, to which a third charter very probably also belonged. However, the latter has been lost. The two charters are severely damaged in the same way.5 The date of issue of the oldest preserved text is partially legible as 1461. The combination of mayors leads to the conclusion that it must have been issued before 22 February, the day on which a new administration was installed in Groningen.6 On the grounds of the rest of the text, it can be assumed that 'des wondesdages inden vasten' signifies the day; that is Ash Wednesday which in 1461 fell on 18 February. The reconstructed text with the con­ jectures is as follows (text in capitals is readable): 1. WY borgermestere ende Raed IN GRONINGEN BETUGEN ΜΥΓ DESSEN OPENEN BREVE DAT voer ons is gekOMEN ALBERT 2. S ende bekande voer EM ENDE SINE ERFFGENAMEN DAT HIE HEVET VERKOFFT UPGEDragen ende over- gegEVEN JUNGE 3. JOHan Seh... ende sinen eRFFGENAMEN ANDERHALVEN GULDEN JAERLIKER ENDE ERFFLIKEr renten vyff onSER STAD JAGHERS 4. voer datum dessen breves geMUNTET OFFTE PAYMENT DAT DAER GUET VOER IS VOER eiken gulden gerekent JAERLIX TE 5. BOren alze stadt recht is in ende uut den HUUSE ΜΥΓΕΝ HOFSTEDEN ENDE SINEN TOBEHOREN DAER he nu YNE WOENT 6. GELegen an de norderzyde IN MANNICHVOLDE STRATE UP DEN OERT DAER DEN geestlicken mageden WONIN­ GEN NAEST

4 Rodolphus Agricola Phnsius 1444-1485, 321-326: Epp. 26 and 41. 5 Inventaris van archieven van kloosters in de provincie Groningen: the transfix is listed under INV. 400, R 422 and 722. 6 See for the lists of mayors of Groningen: Ubbo Emmius, De agro Frisiae inter Amasum et Lavicam fluvios (1646). In places, this list needs to be revised.